AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



145 



The Bingham has one distinctive fea- 

 ture, that, in my mind, makes it super- 

 ior to all other smokers; and that is, 

 the absence of any connecting tubes be- 

 tween the bellows and lire-box, or stove, 

 •lust so sure as the tube connects the 

 two, as in some of the hot-blast smokers, 

 it has a tendency to become clogged 

 with creosote, and to carry smoke into 

 the bellows ; with the result that the 

 bellows valve becomes stuck up and 

 wheezy. 



We have a bellows that has been in 

 use, in connection with the Bingham 

 fire-box, for the last three or four years; 

 and the leather valve is just as clean, 

 apparently, as the day we began using 

 it. I may be mistaken, but I think you 

 will not find a like condition in all other 

 smoker bellows that have been in use 

 for the same length of time ; therefore, 

 in hot-blast smokers I would object to 

 the use of any connecting-tube between 

 the two parts of the implement. The 

 very absence of a tube in the Bingham 

 prevents smoke from entering the bel- 

 lows, and causes it to last and do good 

 . service. The only disadvantage is, that 

 the blast is considerably weakened; 

 although for general manipulations of 

 the hive it is strong enough. 



But there are some advantages which 

 the cold-blast smokers (particularly the 

 Clark) have over the Bingham, or any 

 of the hot-blast smokers with which I 

 am acquainted. Aside from the fact 

 , that the blast is cold, it has very much 

 more force. With an ordinary Clark, a 

 stream of smoke may be forced through 

 four or five hive-bodies, or eight or ten 

 supers, for the purpose of driving the 

 bees out of the same. Again, with our 

 cold-blast Clark, or' the Hill — a very ex- 

 cellent cold-blast smoker by the way — 

 you can start the fire very readily — 

 much more so than in the hot-blast ; and 

 in replenishing they do not require the 

 handling of a hot cone, although Mr. 

 Bingham has made an improvement in 

 his smoker by the use of a" spiral-spring 

 handle, by which the cone may be re- 

 moved without burning the fingers. 

 This safety device (while I first liked it) 

 I do not think is strong enough to en- 

 dure the twisting and pulling often re- 

 quired to remove the cone top. 



The Clark also, when well going, 

 yields a smoke for pungency nearly 

 equal to the hot-blast, and it sells at a 

 price considerably Jower. For ordinary 

 manipulations in the apiary it answers 

 very nicely. In the last year or so it 

 has been improved considerably, by the 

 use of perforations in the fire-box, not 



only to increase the draft, but to prevent 

 fire dropping, something that used to 

 annoy when the door was revolved 

 enough to allow a sufficient draft. The 

 new blast-tube is so large it rarely clogs 

 up so as to make much trouble, although 

 it requires to' be cleaned occasionally ; 

 and the valve, in the bellows, becomes in 

 time a little wheezy from creosote, 

 although it may be cleaned with a little 

 care. 



FUEL FOR BEE-SMOKERS. 



For fuel we have tried rotten wood, 

 hard wood, pine sticks, sawdust, shav- 

 ings, excelsior, paper, rags, peat, corn- 

 cobs, and a peculiar kind of sawdust 

 that comes from making hand-holes 

 with a. wobbling saw in bee-hives. The 

 last-named we find to be far superior to 

 all the others. It lights quickly, and 

 smolders enough to give quite a dense 

 blue smoke. It is readily obtainable of 

 the supply manufacturers. It should 

 be remarked, however, that the fine 

 sawdust should be carefully sifted out. 

 — Bee-Keepers' 1 Review. 



Medina, Ohio. 



Tie Mating of Queen-Bees, 



GEO. S. WHEELER. 



Mr. A. C. Aten's version (page 18) of 

 the mating of the queens in my apiary, 

 is not the correct one, as I had, at the 

 time mentioned, only one small colony of 

 Italians with few drones, and some 20 

 colonies of black bees with thousands of 

 drones, and not another colony of Italian 

 bees within ten miles, yet nearly every 

 queen reared from the Italian colony 

 produced three-banded bees. The next 

 season, having introduced these queens 

 producing bees that were three-banded 

 to nearly all my colonies, I expected my 

 queens to be purely mated, and of course 

 should have fine three-banded Italians ; 

 but such was not the case, as nearly 

 every queen reared the second year pro- 

 duced plenty of black bees. I have no 

 doubt that my queens, the first season, 

 mated with black drones, as the chances 

 would be very small for them to meet 

 Italian drones, when there was only one 

 small colony of Italians with few drones, 

 and 20 colonies of black bees with an 

 abundance of black drones in my own 

 yard, and my neighbors' bees were all 

 black. 



I feel quite certain that very many 

 times from a pure, very light colored 

 Italian queen, one can rear queens that 



